What’s Come Before in this look at the making of Superman 2025: October 2022
The End of One Superman and the Birth of Another
While October marked a leadership shift at DC Studios, November 2022 is when the future of Superman truly came into focus—and changed course dramatically. The month saw a flurry of public speculation and conflicting reports surrounding the fate of Henry Cavill in the role he had played since Man of Steel (2013). What began as renewed hope for Cavill’s return would end with a creative pivot toward a new direction for the character—one that would become Superman: Legacy.
The first major development came on November 1, 2022, when The Hollywood Reporter ran an article suggesting that DC was exploring multiple Superman projects, including a film produced by J.J. Abrams and written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, as well as a potential return vehicle for Cavill. The piece stated:
“Sources say that there is a wish for Cavill to return, and that the character is being positioned as a central figure in the new DC universe being mapped out by Gunn and Safran. The question, however, is whether Cavill will don the cape again—or if the studio will pivot.”
The rumors intensified when Cavill made a surprise cameo appearance in Black Adam, which had been released in late October. On November 6, Cavill posted a now-famous Instagram video wearing a bright white shirt and speaking directly to fans: “I wanted to make it official: I am back as Superman. The image you see on this post and what you saw in Black Adam are just a very small taste of things to come.”
Fans rejoiced. The assumption was that a new solo Superman film with Cavill was finally underway—until James Gunn began publicly addressing rumors and redirecting expectations.
On November 10, 2022, Gunn took to Twitter and made clear that nothing was set in stone. Responding to a tweet asking if he was “scrapping” the Coates-Abrams Superman project, he wrote:
“I’m working on the story. I’m not scrapping anything.”
—James Gunn, Twitter reply, Nov. 10, 2022
He followed that with another post the same day:
“We’re not going to make every single person happy every step of the way, but we can promise everything we do is done in the service of the STORY and in the service of the DC CHARACTERS we know you cherish and we have cherished our whole lives.”
—James Gunn, Twitter, Nov. 10, 2022
While still vague, the tone suggested a reset was coming—and on November 18, The Wrap reported that Gunn was indeed considering a new take on Superman that would not involve Cavill, as he intended to focus on a younger version of the character.
By month’s end, the situation was murky. Henry Cavill had just re-signed with his manager (Dany Garcia, who also managed Black Adam star Dwayne Johnson), and fans were hoping for an official Cavill-led sequel. However, James Gunn’s responses increasingly hinted that he had different plans in mind.
The uncertainty was best summarized in Gunn’s tweet from November 21:
“We know we are not going to make every single person happy with the choices, but we promise we are doing it with honesty, integrity, and always in service of the characters.”
—James Gunn, Twitter, Nov. 21, 2022
This careful positioning would pave the way for a seismic announcement in December. But for now, November was a time of shifting expectations—a month where one version of Superman quietly ended, and another began taking shape behind the scenes.